Hello everyone - welcome to December 2020. 

 What a year we have all had.  In this last Elva's Monologue of 2020, I guided a reflective meditation from January 2020 to December 2020, observing our changing perceptions of things, events and people.   

And to me, 2020 is the year I have learned and am still learning about perception and how our brain constructs and reconstructs perceptions based on our expectations, intentions, beliefs etc.  

This contemporary understanding validates what the ancient saying that "when you change your perception, the things you perceive changes too." So, what is your perception of 2020?  From fear and anxiety I experienced in the first part of 2020, now I am standing at the cusp of 2020 and feel that individually and collectively, 2020 has been a great year of reset and recalibration.  As someone whose health has not been affected by Covid-19 and whose job has not bee adversely impacted, I feel very lucky and feel grateful that I have had much time to connect with myself and with my closed ones.   

Starting this podcast is part of this reset for me and I am thankful that I have received great supports from my amazing friends, many of who are appearing on the podcast to share inspiring stories.    

For December 2020, please stay tuned:  

- Wed, 9th Dec - Peace Lab Conversation wit Dr Rudy Lopez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudy-lopes-3951772/ 

- Wed, 16th Dec - Peace Lab Conversation with Louise Hvala https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-hvala-4424612b/ 

- Wed, 23rd Dec - Legal Mind Unwired with Lara Wentworty https://www.linkedin.com/in/lara-wentworth-265864b5/ 

In 2021, we will continue to grow the podcast, so please be sure to check out. Thank you for your support and see you in 2021!

In this episode of Legal Mind Unwired, I spoke to a good friend of mine - Darshika Bandaranayake (oh yes, I never try to pronounce her name in full - So I just call her Dash), whom I met in Geneva back in 2013 when we were both studying our masters in International Law.   

I still remember the first time Dash and I met - it was on a sunny Summer afternoon at a cafe by the Lake Geneva and we bonded over studying long nights at the library at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.   

About Darshika: Darshika is a Sri Lankan-Australian lawyer with a long-standing interest in international affairs. She’s a had a varied and interesting legal career from working for the Sri Lankan mission to the UN, ANZ during the Banking Royal Commission, American Express and now for WHO. She currently lives in Geneva with her husband, but will always be a proud Sydney-sider. 

In this conversation, Dash and I reminisced on the challenges she faced to carve out an international legal career (the first time around) and her personal story of returning and settling in Geneva for the second time in 2019.  The path to where she is now has not been a linear one with many twists and turns, because many job opportunities in the international development sector are either contemporary or contractors with less permanence. Yet, through her persistence and various learnings, she sees all was meant to be.  

She also shared her 2020 experiences of witnessing the unfoldment of Covid-19 as someone who is not only living in Geneva, but also working in the WHO.  However, the insight she gained through this period of time is the importance of unity and looking after each other, so we can be stronger in helping us all collectively as a community. 

On a personal note, 2020 is an especially important year as Dash is pregnant with her first baby due early 2021 - how exciting!  Dash shared openly and candidly the stress and joy of being pregnant in the mids of 2020, away from her family in Australia.   "Be kind to oneself and do not compare yourself to others" are the key take-away messages from Dash, especially for those who are looking to work in international law or international development sector.  

It is always a joy to speak to Dash, and I hope you enjoyed this unscripted conversation.  

In this Episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking to Annie Harvey, the creator of Still Effect, Wellbeing Educator, mindfulness teacher and laughter yoga leader. 

I met Annie at the Laughter Conference 2019 in Gold Coast and I still remember I was so impressed with her beautiful English accent! 

In today's episode, Annie shared with me about her journey as the creator of the Still Effect.  The idea of Still Effect was initially planted when Annie was finding ways to manage her stress as she was caring for her mother.   

Her search took her to the stage of TEDxTALK in 2017, and then went on writing a book and design a signature program called THE STILL EFFECT. Annie’s passion is helping people with their ‘mental wealth’, in particular around preventing burnout and compassion fatigue. 

She spends her time speaking to teams in the workplace and teenagers in schools as Annie is also a trained teacher. The final “L” in her STILL EFFECT can be the most powerful according to her clients, so Annie will present the evidence from around the world and then take us through a hands-on session of intentional laughter, a global language that we can all share. 

More about Annie Harvey: 

Annie is a keynote speaker, author and wellbeing educator. Her mission is to reduce the symptoms of anxiety across the world and she’s proud to say that her customers range from age 4 to 84. Since speaking on the famous red dot in 2017 at TEDx Adelaide, she has written a book (with another on its way very soon) and is passionate about helping the caring professions reduce burnout and compassion fatigue. She is also a teacher of mindfulness mediation and laughter yoga and will soon launch her Little Box of STILL for young children.

Website: www.thestilleffect.com.au

The Little Book of Still: Calm for Busy Lives https://www.thestilleffect.com.au/book or kindle version at https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Still-Calm-Lives-ebook/dp/B077VFMHX3/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+little+book+of+still+annie+harvey&qid=1603320409&sr=8-1

Welcome to another month of Peace Lab 2020 Podcast, and to another Elva's Monologue.   

In the past, scientists used to think that our human brains become hardwired once we enter  adulthood.  However, thanks to the cutting-edge discoveries in neuroscience and the advancement in imaging technology of the past decades, now we know that our human brain is rather plastic.   

According to neuroplasticity, neurons that “fire together, wire together”.  Repeated mental activities (sustained thinking and belief patterns) result in repeated neural activity, which eventually cause neurological changes to the brain. Interestingly this new understanding of the relationship between mind and brain has long been recognised by some of the ancient Eastern wisdom, such as the notion of a Beginner’s Mind.  Rather than being fixed and static, each one of us is a work in progress and has the capacity to self-transform. 

Essentially, we are witnessing the synergy between the contemporary science and ancient wisdom and witnessing whereby we can use our mind to change our brain for the benefit of our mind.  

So, if it IS possible to change your mind and your brain, why it is still so hard to change? 

It is important to understand the brain's negativity bias which was developed as an evolutionary bias to protect our ancestors, and to detect risks.  As such, our brain seems to remember negativity more than positivity.   But this does not mean we humans are doomed! 

It serves a reminder that we need to take in the good more than the bad, and shift our attention to see more positive not constantly on the negative.   We do have this secret power to take advantage of the plastic brain and to create a beginner' mind.  

The Choice is in our hands!  

"In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind, there are a few." - Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind 

"The brain takes the shape whatever the mind focuses upon". – Dr Rick Hanson, Neuropsychologist